Welt application process for unit soles and wedge platforms

ABSTRACT

Continuous welting, in sequence, is wetted with cement which is dried to provide a bonding stratum, is metered out to provide slack increments each equal in length to the perimeter of a shoe component, is advanced together with the perimeter of the shoe component through the nip between a pair of pressure applying wheels, is heated at the nip to reactivate the bonding stratum which causes the welting to adhere to the perimeter of the shoe component, and is severed at incremental demarcations. The wheels are designed specifically to advance the marginal edge of the shoe component and the welt through the nip and to apply pressure across any cross-sectional portion in the nip notwithstanding differences in the peripheral thicknesses of the shoe component.

[451 Dec. 23, 1975 United States Patent 1 DeCoulos [5 WELT APPLICATION PROCESS FOR UNIT 3,493,983 2/1970 Leonhard! et al. 12/20 SOLES AND WEDGE PLATFORMS [75] Inventor:

Primary ExaminerPatrick D. Lawson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Morse, Altman, Oates & Bello John DeCoulos, Peabody, Mass.

Boston Machine Works Company, Lynn, Mass.

[73]; Assignee:

ABSTRACT Continuous welting, in sequence, is wetted with cement which is dried to provide a bonding stratum, is metered out to provide slack increments each equal in length to the perimeter of a shoe component, is advanced together with the perimeter of the shoe component through the nip between a pair of pressure applying wheels, is heated at the nip to reactivate the bonding stratum which causes the welting to adhere to the perimeter of the shoe component, and is severed at incremental demarcations. The wheels are designed specifically to advance the marginal edge of the shoe component and the welt through the nip and to apply pressure across any cross-sectional portion in the nip notwithstanding differences in the peripheral thicknesses of the shoe component.

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US. Patent Dec.23, 1975 Sheet30f7 3,927,433

FIG. 3

U.S. Patent Dec. 23, 1975 Sheet 4 of7 3,927,433

U.S. Patent Dec. 23, 1975 Sheet 5 of7 3,927,433

U.S. Patent Dec. 23, 1975 Sheet 6 of7 3,927,433

FIG. 6

U.S. Patent Dec. 23, 1975 Sheet 7 of 7 FIG. 8

FIG. 7

WELT APPLICATION PROCESS FOR UNIT SOLES AND WEDGE PLATFORMS BACKGROUND In prior techniques for cementing welting to shoe components, manual cementing, positioning and pressing steps have produced inconsistent results or reliability of complex machines for cementing, positioning and pressing has been achieved at unduly high complexity and cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the present invention is to provide devices and processes by which continuous welting, in sequence, is wetted with cement which is dried to provide a bonding stratum, is metered out to provide slack increments each equal in length to the perimeter of a shoe component, is advanced together with the perimeter of the shoe component through the nip between a pair of pressure applying wheels, is heated at the nip to reactivate the bonding stratum which causes the welting to adhere to the perimeter of the shoe component, and is severed at incremental demarcations. The wheels are designed specifically to advance the perimeter of the shoe component and the welt through the nip and to apply pressure across any cross-sectional portion in the nip notwithstanding differences in the peripheral thicknesses of the shoe component, the upper one of the wheels being peripherally knurled in order to present a high friction surface and the lower one of the wheels being of relatively great diameter in order to present a wide peripheral arc capable of spanning irregularities in the perimeter of the shoe component.

Other objects of the present invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the processes and devices, together with their steps, components and interrelationships, which are exemplified in the present disclosure, the scope of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of an apparatus for performing a process of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the sequence of steps involved in the process of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a subassembly of the apparatus of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of another subassembly of the apparatus of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1, with parts broken away for clarity;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation, partly broken away, of a subassembly of the apparatus of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view, partly broken away, of the subassembly of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation, analogous to that of FIG. 4, illustrating one mode of operation; and

FIG. 8 is a front elevation, analogous to that of FIG. 7, illustrating another mode of operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In accordance with the present invention, the welting typically is composed of a natural resilient material such as leather or a synthetic resilient material such as polyvinyl chloride. Initially the wet cement is composed of a synthetic elastomer, such as neoprene or polyurethane, dispersed in an organic solvent. The cement is applied and dried at a temperature ranging from [25 to 200F. The cement is reactivated at a temperature ranging from 125 to 200F.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show free welting at 32, a welt supply spool at 20, a cement applicator at 22, a drying tower at 24, a slack regulator at 26, a pair of pressure applying wheels at 28, 30, applied welting at 32, a shoe component at 34, a cement reactivator at 36, and a welt cutter at 38. All of the operating components are mounted on a suitable base 18, which is in the form of a table. This table has a flat top 19, below which are foot controls that permit manual handling of shoe components freely above the table top.

Welt supply station 20 is in the form of a freely rotatable spool 40 that is journaled on a suitable support 42. From spool 40, welting 32 enters a gluing station 22, which is of a type typically comprising a wheel 44, the upper portion of which contacts the welting and the lower portion of which is immersed in a supply 46 of cement. Drying tower 24 includes a series of pulleys 48 at its upper and lower extremities and defines a conduit, heated by electrical panels, through which hot air is blown.

Slack regulator 26 is best shown in FIG. 3. From the drying tower, the welting emerges past a pulley 50 and a pulley 52, both of which are fixed with respect to the base. Mounted on base 18 is a motor 54, which drives a pulley 56. welting extends from pulley 52 around pulley 56 and through the nip between pulley 56 and a wheel 58. As shown, wheel 58 is journaled for rotation on a link 60. The lower extremity of link 60 is pivoted at the base of motor 54. The upper extremity of link 60 is urged in the direction of pulley 56 by a tension spring 62 that is stretched between link 60 and a link 64 that is fixed to motor housing 54. Also mounted for rotation on link 60 are a pair of pinch wheels 66, 68, between which the welting extends from the nip between pulley 56 and wheel 58. From the nip between wheels 66, 68, the welting extends to a pulley in a downward direction. Pulley 70 is rotatably journalled on a link 72, which is pivoted at 74 so as to be able to meter out an increment of welting of an appropriate length for application to the shoe component perimeter, shown at 76 after extending past a pulley 77. In the operation of slack regulator 26, ordinarily motor 54 is inoperative so that welting 32 is fixed between in the nip between pulley 56 and wheel 58 and in the nip between wheels 66, 68. The forwardmost portion of the welting extends from the nip between wheels 66, 68 past tension pulley 70 to welt applicator 37. When pulley 70 is in its lowermost position, as shown by in full lines, an increment of the welting is available for application to the shoe component perimeter without further metering by motor 54. As this welting is fed to the shoe component, link 72 pivots about axis 74 while pulley 70 rises to the position shown in the dashed lines at 700, 72a. Rotati ble with link 72 is a link 78 at one extremity of which is a mercury switch 80. When link 78 has rotated to its most counterclockwise position, as shown by dashed lines 78a in FIG. 3, motor 54 is energized in order to meter out a further increment of welting 32. At this time, pulley 70 returns to its lowermost position and link 72 rotates in a clockwise direction into its most clockwise position. In order to damp undesired oscillations of links 72, 78, screws 80, 82, 84 are provided at adjustable locations on links 72, 78. Screws 80, 82 are adjustably located on opposite sides of pivot 74 by suitable locks associated with slots in link 72. Screw 84 is located by a suitable threaded collar on a screw, which is affixed to and moves with a link 78.

Details of the welt applicator are shown in FIG. 4. The welting extends from pulley 77 into the channel of a heating element 36 in such a way that the lower portion of the welting, on which the dry cement is coated, is heated by a jet of hot air that originates in a hot air heater 88 and is ducted through suitable conduits 90 and 92. The welting advancing through guide 36 to the nip between knurled top drive wheel 28 and smooth bottom adaptor wheel 30 is applied, as shown in FIG. 7, to the upper margin of a shoe component or the like. This shoe component is manually positioned in the nip against an inner guide wheel 94. Guide wheel 94 is journaled on a bracket 96, which in turn is mounted on base 18. Thus, guide wheel 94 and guide wheel 28 are journaled about axes, which are fixed with respect to base 18. As shown, the axis of guide wheel 94 is perpendicular and the axis of knurled wheel 28 is horizontal.

Adaptor wheel 30 is biased into an uppermost position by a spring 98 and is driven in all positions by a drive chain 100, the arrangement being as follows. Mounted on base 18 is a bracket 102 on which is pivoted one end of a link 104. At the other end of link 104 is journaled adaptor wheel 30. Adapter wheel 30 is journaled on a shaft 106 which also carries a sprocket 108. A sprocket 110 is keyed to the shaft 112, about which link 104 pivots. Sprockets 108, 110 are meshed with drive chain 100. It will be observed, in FIGS. and 6, that drive wheel 28 is driven directly through chain and sprocket gearing 114 and that sproket 110 is driven from gearing 114 through a shaft 116. The arrangement is such that sprocket 110 is driven by sprocket 108 through chain 100 no matter what the position of adaptor wheel 30. At the end of the cycle with the welting having been applied throughout perimeter 76, air actuated knife 38 severs the applied increment of welting from the remainder of the welting. Depending from shaft 106 of adaptor wheel 30 is a link 118, the upper extremity of which is pivoted to shaft 106 and the lower extremity of which is pivoted to a foot pedal that, in turn, is pivoted to base 18. Foot pedal 120 is depressed by an operator to enlarge the nip between press wheel 28 and adaptor wheel 30 in order to facilitate introduction of shoe component 34 into the nip.

OPERATION In operation, an operator steps on foot pedal 120 in order to depress adaptor wheel 30 so that a platform or other shoe component 34 can be introduced into the nip between adaptor wheel 30 and drive wheel 28. Thereupon, pedal 120 is released so that the perimeter of the component is gripped between the lower and upper wheels with its edge abutting against guide wheel 94. After manual introduction in the horizontal plane, the rim of the shoe component is pulled by wheels 28, 30, with welting 32 in contact with its perimeter. Welting 32 extends from supply spool 20 through cement applicator 22 and drying tower 24 to slack regulator 26 where a metered length of welting, sufficient to extend about the periphery of shoe component to be welted is provided. The length of this metered increment is determined by the operation of mercury switch 80, which operates each time a given length of welting is needed in response to the condition of slack in the welting increment. At the end of the welting step, knife 38 is actuated by knee switch 120 to sever the next increment of welting from the welting just adhered to the shoe component.

The present invention this provides a novel process and apparatus for applying welting to the margins of a shoe component in such a way as to minimize effort while maximizing efficacy. Since certain changes may be made in the foregoing disclosure without departing from the scope of the invention herein, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A process for applying welting to a variable thickness shoe component, said process comprising the steps of advancing from a supply spool a length of said welting, applying cement to a surface of said welting, drying said cement on said surface to provide a coating, metering predetermined increments of said welting, feeding said welting together with said shoe component between a drive wheel and an adaptor wheel defining a nip therebetween with said shoe component in contact with said adaptor wheel and said welt in contact with said drive wheel, heat activating portions of said coating as said welting advances in said nip, severing said welting at said nip, the diameter of said drive wheel being less than one-tenth the diameter of said adaptor wheel, and accomodating the distance between said adaptor wheel and said drive wheel to the varying combined thickness of said shoe component and said welt as they pass through said nip without jamming.

t 4 l t i 

1. A process for applying welting to a variable thickness shoe component, said process comprising the steps of advancing from a supply spool a length of said welting, applying cement to a surface of said welting, drying said cement on said surface to provide a coating, metering predetermined increments of said welting, feeding said welting together with said shoe component between a drive wheel and an adaptor wheel defining a nip therebetween with said shoe component in contact with said adaptor wheel and said welt in contact with said drive wheel, heat activating portions of said coating as said welting advances in said nip, severing said welting at said nip, the diameter of said drive wheel being less than one-tenth the diameter of said adaptor wheel, and accomodating the distance between said adaptor wheel and said drive wheel to the varying combined thickness of said shoe component and said welt as they pass through said nip without jamming. 